Suggestions for planning a Fall Flower Garden

likastarz9January 25, 2012

Hi,

New to the site. I've posted this in the Wisconsin and the Tips and Techniques forums too (not sure which is best!).

Basically, I'm just looking for suggestions on which flowers/how to plan my garden so it's full of as many beautiful fall flowers as possible, as cheaply as possible. I want to see if I can grow flowers to add to my wedding decor, so I'm specifically looking at fall flower suggestions (not planning a spring/summer garden).

I am trying to focus on flowers that are in the white and orange color families, so if you know specific breeds I should be looking for, that would help.

I have about 100 sq. feet of garden. Tends to be thicker-clay soil. I don't know if its acidic/alkaline. I'm pretty new to gardening, so I'll take any suggestions....i.e, how to prepare the garden, maintaining it, what flowers to NOT put next to each other, etc. I'm in zone 5.

Are you trying to plant a fall *perennial* garden then? Or just a garden for this fall for the special event?

If you were planning a perennial garden, you would be looking for fall bloomers, like chrysanthemum (comes in yellows, orange, reds, purples and whites) and asters. But then you would have to make sure that they came into bloom at the right time for the wedding--which isn't something that I would risk unless I were very experienced with the plant.

A more sure approach would be to plant annual flowers, which should flower continuously until frost. Zinnias are beautiful and bountiful (and some varieties come in those colors), marigolds come in orange, petunias, impatiens come in white, celosias may or may not come in orange, tithonia (Mexican sunflower) is a very striking orange flower, and I think there are even white varieties of sunflower.

Could you tell me how much sun the area gets, and when you want it to be in peak bloom?

Also, check out your zone and tell us your first expected frost of the fall, so we know a little about how risky it will be to make the date.

Hey,
Thanks. I don't care annual/perennial, but that's a good point with the continuous flowering. I was going to try marigolds and mums for sure... and if the mums didn't work, there's always tons for sale that are flowering at the stores around then.

I'm in zone 5. Average expected first frost is October 15th (but we get weird weather, so who knows). Wedding is the beginning of Oct, so I'm hoping to make the cutoff before then.

Area is partial sun, although I can do a few pots of container gardening in full sun.